Quotes of the day

posted at 10:44 pm on May 7, 2012 by Allahpundit

President Barack Obama’s ongoing evolution on the issue of same-sex marriage has ceased being only a topic of friction between him and the gay-rights community, becoming, in the dawn of the general election campaign, an early test of political character…

“What I think you are seeing now is the extent to which the White House miscalculated that they can continue to give a non-answer on what is one of the major issues of our day,” said Richard Socarides, a former aide to President Bill Clinton and senior White House adviser on gay rights. “You can evolve for a time, but they have stretched this out 18 months now.”…

“The question is, is there a risk?” said one prominent Democratic Party official. “It is not nationwide [polling] we are talking about. We are talking about Virginia, North Carolina and other swing states, and we are talking about, would Karl Rove and his team stoop to using horribly grotesque and hateful tactics … and would that peel off 10,000 votes?”

***

“He won here by such a narrow margin that almost anything could make the difference’’ said longtime Democratic strategist Gary Pearce, who is based in Raleigh. “I don’t blame him for being cautious. The country is also evolving, and he doesn’t want to get there too early.”…

A big reason the issue is tricky for Obama is that two of the constituencies that were pivotal to his 2008 victory – young voters and African-Americans — are at odds. While gay-rights advocates frame marriage as a civil-rights issue, many churchgoing African-Americans approach it in a religious context. In North Carolina for example, an Elon University Poll in February found that only 35 percent of voters ages 18 to 34 support a constitutional ban on gay marriage. Among black voters, the percentage supporting the ban jumped to 46 percent…

“It’s a gamble,’’ said Mileah Kroner, Elon University assistant professor of political science. “On one hand, him coming out for gay marriage could infuse the base and get young people excited, which could be in his favor. Then again, it could turn off older people, who he didn’t do particularly well with in the last election. Same with black voters, who tend to be evangelical. It’s a political calculation.’’

***

“The walk-back was one of the weakest moments for the administration on this issue,” said one LGBT activist. “[Biden] was crystal clear on what he was saying. People in the gay community know what’s going on, but the fact that they’re not doing a more masterful job of explaining this is a little upsetting…

Another prominent gay supporter — who attended a fundraiser featuring a who’s-who of gay donors for Obama in Florida last month — said that while the president’s refusal to express his support for gay marriage stings the community, “they know the alternative is frightening.”

Fred Sainz, the vice president of communications for the Human Rights Campaign, agreed with that premise, saying the differences between Romney and Obama are “stark and cold.”

“There’s not an alternative. We view this president as a friend,” Sainz said.

***

Some leading gay and progressive donors are so angry over President Obama’s refusal to sign an executive order barring same sex discrimination by federal contractors that they are refusing to give any more money to the pro-Obama super PAC, a top gay fundraiser’s office tells me. In some cases, I’m told, big donations are being withheld.

Jonathan Lewis, the gay philanthropist and leading Democratic fundraiser, is one of many gay advocates who has been working behind the scenes to pressure Obama to change his mind. When Obama decided against the executive order last month, arguing that he would pursue a legislative solution instead, advocates were furious — such a solution will never pass Congress, the executive order has been a priority for advocates for years, and the move smacked of a political cave to conservatives who will not support Obama no matter what he does.

Now these and other donors are beginning to withold money from Priorities USA, the main pro-Obama super PAC, out of dismay over the president’s decision.

***

[O]n this issue, the president isn’t leading. He’s following. And the gap by which he trails others in his party grows broader and sadder…

But right now, Obama could stir up a lot of counterproductive noise and passion with an emphatic position in favor of marriage equality. And while it’s the job of advocates to focus on one issue and amass their armies on a single front, it’s the job of those who govern to promote an array of concerns and serve multiple constituencies. To do any good in office, you have to be in office…

He brags about this progress, and has a right to. But he shouldn’t expect those of us who support marriage equality to find the sound of that trumpeting so very musical. It’s a tentative, incremental bleat. And it’s especially unsatisfying from a president who’s such a moving, hopeful symbol of this country’s imperfect and incomplete journey toward full respect for all its citizens, no matter their gender, race, creed or sexual orientation.

***

Reporters fired dozens of barbed questions and taunts. “Contorted position! . . . Why did you guys send out statements to clarify? . . . What does the word ‘evolving’ mean? . . . Is he not evolved?. . . I want you to dissect the evolution.” A fly buzzed around the lectern. Carney let out a sigh.

“His critics in the LGBT rights movement can also learn a thing or two about tolerance and patience. Lesson number one, can start with asking themselves the question: Are you holding the president to a tougher standard because deep down inside you don’t really trust him? And if the answer to that question is yes, perhaps the next question you should ask yourself is why?”

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I don’t know what an aspie is? but I’ll tell you the chit chat story anyway.

I used to own a store and I was putting in a new window display while 7 or 8 months pregnant….a preggers woman in a very tiny space with my hind end backed up to the window… When I turned around and looked out to the sidewalk, who do I see but Mark Harmon staring back at me. EEEmbarassing to say the least.

Mein Gott. I just googled Lara Flynn Boyle-I unfortunately knew her-and she looks like hades. She’s had work done-and it didn’t take. she used to be kind of cute.
I’m about 6 months younger than she is-and my REAL face looks much younger than her FAKE face.

Mein Gott. I just googled Lara Flynn Boyle-I unfortunately knew her-and she looks like hades. She’s had work done-and it didn’t take. she used to be kind of cute.
I’m about 6 months younger than she is-and my REAL face looks much younger than her FAKE face.

annoyinglittletwerp on May 8, 2012 at 1:11 AM

I loved her on Twin Peaks. What is up w/the collagen lip treatment? Looks like someone punched her. She is 42, has at least twenty more years until she has to be put down.

The purpose of the Academy was to give talented teenagers a place where they could focus on/hone their art. By the end of my sophomore year the focus had change to creating superstars. I didn’t want to be a superstar-I wanted to sing. That’s what I was there for. I also couldn’t dance or act-so there was no future for me there. I left after sophomore year.

We were in the same grade. I’ll be 42 this fall-and I look 5 or more years younger than she does.
I’ve made myself a promise that I will NEVER get ‘work’ done.

annoyinglittletwerp on May 8, 2012 at 1:21 AM

Wife watches Hallmark all the time. Called me into the front room and asked if I knew who a woman actress was. Said no. Turns out it was Melissa Gilbert but she had so much work done she didn’t look the same.

Arnold Z
I think Melissa looks great, I had a crush Since little house……

angrymike on May 8, 2012 at 1:40 AM

She just doesn’t look like she did three or four years ago. I’m not talking age either. That poor gal I guess had a bad bout w/alcoholism. She claimed she would down 3-4 bottles of wine a night. Geez she couldn’t be over 130 lbs. My hat is off to her. One bottle a night or 1 1/2 w/ wife getting a glass or two is plenty for me.

Yeah the whole techno scene isn’t really my cup of tea. With a few exceptions. I like talent, the problem it seems to me these days is that auto feel to everything. My better half was reminding me of these folks earlier.

My face is already starting to go south and though I color my hair-naturally brown but I look good as a burgundy-I’m getting my first gray roots. Still-I will NEVER get work done. Lara looks phoney. Joan Rivers looks phoney. Leeza Gibbons and Melanie Griffith look phoney.
I’d rather look old…and real.

He’s in central Illnois-near Macomb. Hubby’s staying home-gas and boarding the cats costs mucho $$$-and I’m taking a bus to St.L. and staying with one of husband’s brothers(and family) and then we all are going up to Spawn’s graduation. The next day me and Spawn are driving home.
I leave a week from Thursday.

“They had the best of both worlds going up until this weekend where they didn’t have to rock the boat of actually coming out for it. The gay community was fully happy in their belief that he ‘wink, wink’ supported it,” a top Democratic communications strategist said. “Now, in their efforts to contain the [Joe] Biden fallout, they seem to be digging in against gay marriage, emphasizing how they are not for it. That is the opposite of what they have successfully been doing all along.”

[snip]

People close to the president say the Biden and Duncan statements were not part of an authorized dog-whistling campaign to placate supporters of gay marriage.

“Joe Biden is a wonderful guy and he has this position, but I’m also not surprised that he answered the question genuinely and from the heart and it was nothing more than that,” said Joe Solmonese, president of HRC, rejecting the notion that it was a trial balloon by Obama’s political team.

[snip]

Duncan’s remarks were greeted with annoyance, bordering on anger, in the West Wing. But the president didn’t react strongly to either statement and is not worried about being perceived as out of step or hypocritical, according to people close to the situation. Source

Yeah, buddy. Folks in the Heartland are right there with you “fiscal Conservatives” and the flaming (pun intended) Liberals. Every state in the Union has voted in favor of Gay Marriage……ummm…haven’t they?///

What I think you are seeing now is the extent to which the White House miscalculated that they can continue to give a non-answer on what is one of the major issues of our day,” said Richard Socarides, a former aide to President Bill Clinton and senior White House adviser on gay rights. “You can evolve for a time, but they have stretched this out 18 months now.”…

And Santorum was blasted by his own party for focusing too much on social issues.

“The children of darkness are wiser in their own generation than the sons of light”

Several people close to the White House said the episode has exposed internal tensions within Obama’s team between those who want the president to say he favors same-sex marriage before the November election and others who worry about a political backlash if he does — not just among conservatives and working-class voters but among African Americans who are Obama’s most loyal support bloc but tend to oppose such unions.

About one in six of Obama’s top campaign “bundlers” are gay, according to a Washington Post review of donor lists, making it difficult for the president to defer the matter. Washington Post

Sooooooo …
President SmartPower is “evolving”. There’s that bait and switch term again.(cue the Church Lady)
“Well, isn’t that special” and oh so “conveenient”.
Leading from behind can be dangerous, especially in prison.(btw, social cons, drop the constitutional amendment crap, ya look silly)
~(Ä)~

Scotter’s between a rock and a hard place. In order to placate his Far Left Base and the percentage of American homosexuals that are advocating Gay Marriage, he would have to come out…for it. But, as state elections have shown, the actual majority of Americans are not in favor of it.